Are you looking for strategies to help students to exhibit acceptable behavior in large groups? If so, keep reading.
1. Write group agreements that urge students to work together for group success.
2. Find related group learning activities the student can perform successfully (e.g., acting as a teacher’s assistant, giving instructions, handing out learning materials, collecting learning materials, etc.).
3. Plan daily learning activities so that highly desirable learning activities follow large academic group learning activities and are contingent upon appropriate behavior in the large academic cooperative learning experience.
4. Get the student to question any directions, explanations, or instructions they do not understand.
5. Teach the student to think before acting (e.g., they should ask themselves, “What is happening?” “What am I doing?” “What should I do?” “What will be best for me?”).
6. Make sure that your remarks are in the form of constructive criticism rather than criticism that can be perceived as personal, etc.
7. Assess the appropriateness of the task to ascertain (a) if the task is too easy, (b) if the task is too complicated, and (c) if the duration of time scheduled to finish the task is sufficient.
8. Connect with parents to disseminate information about the student’s progress. The parents may reinforce the student at home for working properly in a large academic group setting at school.
9. Draft an agreement with the student stipulating what behavior is required (e.g., working properly with peers) and which reinforcement will be implemented when the agreement has been met.
10. Praise the student for demonstrating appropriate behavior in a large academic group setting based on the duration of time they can be successful. As the student shows success, slowly increase the duration of time required for reinforcement.
11. Praise those students in the classroom who demonstrate appropriate behavior in a large academic group setting.
12. Create classroom rules: • Complete every assignment. • Complete assignments quietly. • Remain in your seat. • Finish tasks. • Meet task expectations. Examine rules often. Praise students for following the rules.
13. Converse with the student to explain (a) what they are doing wrong (e.g., talking out of turn, failing to part, etc.) and (b) what they must be doing (e.g., talking when appropriate, taking turns, sharing, etc.).
14. Praise the student for demonstrating appropriate behavior in a large academic group setting: (a) give the student a concrete reward (e.g., privileges such as leading the line, handing out learning materials, 10 minutes of free time, etc.) or (b) give the student an informal reward (e.g., praise, handshake, smile, etc.).
15. Consider using a classroom management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
16. Consider using an adaptive behavior management app. Click here to view a list of apps that we recommend.
17. Consider using Alexa to help the student learn to behave appropriately. Click here to read an article that we wrote on the subject.
18. Click here to learn about six bonus strategies for challenging problem behaviors and mastering classroom management.
